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Citrus Hued Whimsical Wedding with Paper Details

Citrus Hued Whimsical Wedding with Paper Details

There are a million great things to say about this wedding from Kassia Phoy, XOXO Weddings, and Ellamah, starting with the positively swoon-worthy story the groom Rob wrote about his love story with bride Diana. We’re all about the paper accents during the ceremony, the fresh orange and green tablescapes for the reception, and the bride’s sleek gown, but make sure you check out the sweet words as well!

Citrus Hued Whimsical Wedding with Paper Details - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

From the groom, Rob: In the spring of 2007, in the wan­ing days of Co­lum­bia’s aca­d­e­mic year, elated moods filled fresh­man dorms: final exams were al­most over; it was a Fri­day. Jeff Schwartz had been invited to a party on the 11th floor of Car­man, and he asked me if I wanted to join. Eh. Come on, man. Ok. We rode up to 11 with a crowd of par­ty-­go­ers, then walked down the hall, where sat a girl. The vol­ume of chat­ter seemed to decrease around me, and I was aware of only three things: my breath­ing (in­creas­ing), her beauty (ar­resting), and a ques­tion: would she be going to this party? (Could I be so lucky?)

groom getting ready - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

LA wedding venues - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

modern wedding dresses - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

coral charm peony wedding bouquet - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

wedding portraits with balloons - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

modern wedding fashion - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

She was going, re­luc­tantly. The party turned out to be in her dorm room, though she had not been aware of any party plan­ning. Oh well. By this time the party had started, I was busy au­di­tion­ing and re-au­ditioning open­ing lines in my head. Fi­nally I de­cided on one, and got my chance. I stepped up to the free-throw line.

“Are you in 20th-cen­tury art his­tory?”

“No.”

The crowd went silent. I knew she had been in the class at some point. She was in my dis­cus­sion sec­tion, three months ago. I learned noth­ing about art in that class. I bus­ied my­self with snuck glances. A week after that, even though the TA lead­ing the sec­tion was ter­ri­ble, I re­turned, only to see if she’d be there. She wasn’t. And a third time. No luck.

“Oh I think I saw you in my dis­cus­sion sec­tion — did you drop that class?”

“Yeah.”

I re­mem­ber al­most noth­ing else about that con­ver­sa­tion. But ever since that first ques­tion, asked al­most nine years ago, Diana and I have never re­ally stopped talk­ing.

seafoam green bridesmaid dresses - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

modern tropical inspired bouquets - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

tan wedding suits - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

wedding party portraits - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

whimiscal ceremony decor - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

whimsical wedding ceremonies - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

colorful wedding ceremony ideas - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

wedding ceremonies - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

ceremony kiss - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

At first we talked about music, then we talked about every­thing else; time flew. A year went by. Would I want to come visit her ex­tended fam­ily in China over the sum­mer? Yes! So we did (and I’m for­ever grate­ful for the chance to meet her grey-eyed grand­fa­ther). Two more years, then we were sit­ting next to each other at grad­u­a­tion, then we were in Paris. Diana moved to the west coast first, but six months of long dis­tance passed quickly. Next thing I knew, I had a one-way ticket, then a Cal­i­for­nia dri­ver’s li­cense, then an abid­ing love for the smell of eu­ca­lyp­tus lin­ing Ju­nipero Serra Drive. The Bay Area was home for 3 years. We con­tin­ued to talk about every­thing: food, our life to­gether, grad school for Diana. Prob­a­bly she’d go to UC Berke­ley, we loved it in the Bay. But she might as well apply to Har­vard — why not? — though we would never move to Boston. Un­think­able. Just cu­ri­ous if she’d get in. On the cross-coun­try drive to Boston, we drove Amer­ica for the first time, and she began to meet my extended fam­ily, scat­tered every­where in the 50 states. Two years after that (after meet­ing all new friends, and sur­viv­ing the worst win­ter in the his­tory of New Eng­land), we planned a cross-coun­try drive to Los An­ge­les, and we drove Amer­ica again, this time a south­ern route to a sunny place. In New Or­leans we dined, in old-world style, on old school food: tur­tle soup, a Saz­erac. It was June 25, 2015, twelve months to the day be­fore our mar­riage, and we cel­e­brated our 1 year an­niver­sary in an as­tound­ing place that — even though nei­ther of us had any con­nec­tion to it — still felt oddly like home. In fact, now that we’ve lived so many places to­gether, noth­ing re­ally de­fines “home” for me more than Diana’s pres­ence. (If we wake up in the same bed, isn’t that home?)

Chinese tea ceremonies - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

Chinese tea ceremonies - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

whimsical wedding receptions - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

wedding name cards - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

LA wedding receptions - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

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pink wedding paper goods - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

green and orange wedding centerpieces - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

citrus and fruit weddings - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

Carondelet House weddings - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

We are de­scended from peri­patetic peo­ple. 50 years ago, when my own mother was com­pet­ing in a duck­pin bowl­ing league in Mass­a­chu­setts, 8000 miles away, in Shan­tou, Diana’s fa­ther was tying live bee­tles to strings. (An in­ex­pen­sive fan, nec­es­sary in Shan­tou’s op­pres­sive hu­mid­ity.) 30 years ago, my fa­ther (a Yan­kee) was play­ing banjo in north­ern Vir­ginia, and Diana’s mother was teach­ing Eng­lish in Zhan­jiang. Two fam­i­lies, al­ways mov­ing, never quite set­tled. Vir­ginia, Mary­land, Florida, Ohio; Guang­dong, Ore­gon, Maryland, New Jer­sey. Then two col­lege stu­dents crossed paths in New York. A link formed in the uni­verse. Of course, now that Alfie — our timid ter­rier — has joined the fam­ily, maybe the de­f­i­n­i­tion of home is start­ing to change a lit­tle. Just yes­ter­day, over clear Rhode Is­land clam chow­der (in West Hol­ly­wood), we did some quick men­tal math. If Alfie leads a healthy life, we’ll be in our early 40s when he’s an old man. Who knows how big our fam­ily will be then? Uh oh. Diana seems to have caught me teary-eyed. What am I doing? Noth­ing, just writ­ing. What is she doing? Re­search­ing vac­u­ums. There’s a lot of dog hair on the ground, which is a new prob­lem, though an ex­cel­lent one to have.

wedding with greenery - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

wedding tablescapes - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

weddings with fruit - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

Chinese American weddings - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

wedding dessert tables - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

ivory wedding cakes with flowers - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

cake cutting - photo by Kassia Phoy https://ruffledblog.com/citrus-hued-whimsical-wedding-with-paper-details

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Vendors

Photography: Kassia Phoy
Wedding Coordination: XOXO Weddings
Floral Design: Ellamah
Venue: Carondelet House
Wedding Dress: JILL Jill Stuart
Hair and Makeup: Be.NYLA
Catering: Très LA
Roast Pig: Eva’s Lechon
Wedding Cake: Vanilla Bake Shop
Rentals: Premiere Party Rentals
Videography: Grimace Films
Photo Booth: Petite Pix

View Comment (1)
  • This design is stunning! Well done to all of the vendors!

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